Detransitioner’s lawsuit against medical professionals moves forward | Eastern NC Now

By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
June 15, 2024

A 25-year-old North Carolina woman who was given gender-altering hormones and surgery as a teen is suing her former therapists, doctors and surgeons, and a judge has ruled that her case can proceed on charges of civil conspiracy and fraud.

Prisha Mosley filed the suit, the first of its kind in North Carolina, in July 2023 in Gaston County Superior Court.

“Starting when I was 16 years old and continuing into my teen and young adult years, doctors and counselors set me on a path of medicalized ‘gender transition,’” Mosley wrote in an op ed explaining her case. “They told me that changing my body to look like a boy’s body would cure my mental health problems. They told me that injecting large amounts of testosterone into my female body would be good for me. They also encouraged me to undergo surgery to remove my healthy breasts.”

But instead of helping with the severe mental health issues Mosley had dealt with since being sexually assaulted at age 14, she says doctors and counselors pushed her into believing that changing her body to look like that of a boy would solve her problems. Now, her voice is changed and she experiences pain where her breasts were removed as well as in her shoulders, neck and genital area.

The so-called “gender-affirming care” left her broken, with extreme physical injuries and without some of her body parts, Mosley says. “It did not cure my mental health problems and instead made them worse.”

Seeking to prevent what happened to her from happening to others, Mosley filed suit against Eric T. Emerson, M.D.; Piedmont Plastic Surgery and Dermatology, PA; Brie Klein-Fowler; Family Solutions, PLLC; Shana Gordon; Tree of Life Counseling, PLLC; Martha Fairbanks Perry, M.D.; and Moses Cone Medical Services Inc., alleging various types of fraud, medical malpractice, inflicting emotional distress, and utilizing unfair and deceptive trade practices. The defendants asked that the entire case be dismissed, but North Carolina Superior Court Judge Robert Ervin ruled that the charges of civil conspiracy and fraud may proceed.

“This is the first substantive ruling we are aware of in which a Court has held that a detransitioner’s case against her health care professionals is legally viable,” Josh Payne, one of Mosley’s attorneys, said in a statement.

The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, called the ruling to allow Mosley’s case to proceed “a significant step toward accountability and justice.”

“It underscores the importance of scrutinizing the so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ practices that have led to permanent damage for many young individuals,” Creech said.

“We must listen to the voices of detransitioners who, despite facing vilification and threats, are warning others about the consequences of transitioning. Their experiences reveal the need for a more thoroughly evaluated approach to treating gender dysphoria, ensuring that all underlying mental health issues are addressed before making such life-altering decisions.”

Creech said vulnerable young people like Mosley, who are often struggling with severe psychological conditions, deserve proper, compassionate care that addresses their mental health needs without resorting to irreversible surgeries and hormone treatments.

“One also has to wonder how much of this ‘care’ is driven by the profit motive. These surgeries are exceedingly expensive and the patient has to be placed on expensive drugs for the rest of their lives,” he added. “I once heard testimony given by Mosley in a committee meeting of the North Carolina General Assembly, and she argued that this was the case.”

One of the most widely-known detransitioners, 19-year-old Chloe Cole filed suit last year against Kaiser hospitals for her hormone therapy and surgery. And last month, she took on Disney’s policy of covering gender transitioning for its employees, demanding at a stakeholder meeting that the company cover medical costs for detransitioning as well.

“The lawsuits are coming,” she told Disney executives. “It’s only a matter of time before current or past employees, whose bodies and lives have been irreversibly harmed, will show up at your door looking for justice and restitution.”

Earlier this year, detransitioning gained significant media attention when a study showed that most gender-confused youth grow out of it and again when England initiated a ban on puberty blockers following a four-year review.

According to the New York Post, the Dutch study, which tracked 2,700 children over 15 years, showed that 11 percent of participants struggled with gender issues as young adolescents. But by age 26, only 4 percent did. “Gender non-contentedness, while being relatively common during early adolescence, in general decreases with age,” researchers noted.

Cole, who had a double mastectomy at age 15 before detransitioning the next year, says the U.S. has been slow to realize that the medicalization of trans youth is a mistake. England, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have all moved to limit medical intervention in transgender youth, the Post reported in April.

But the newspaper pointed out that the tides may be turning in the U.S. now that 22 states have limited medical care for transgender youth.